The Obama Voters: Encouraged Yes, But Energized Yet?

My latest Capital Journal column is based on a conversation with a cross-section of Obama voters:

Richard Buikema voted with enthusiasm for Barack Obama in 2008, and has watched intently as he’s governed for the last 15 months.

Yet Mr. Buikema, a 52-year-old computer-training instructor, refers to the Obama administration as having only now reached a kind of “starting point” by passing a health-care overhaul. “It makes me feel like his presidency is starting to gain momentum,” he says. “I hope that starts to build on itself.”

As that suggests, Mr. Buikema describes himself as “very patient.” The two crucial questions facing Democratic leaders are how widespread such patience is—and whether patience can be turned back into enthusiasm by the time November’s midterm election rolls around.

This year’s election will be about health care, of course, and certainly about the economy. But the biggest question hovering over it is a more generic one: Can President Barack Obama rekindle the excitement among his voters that so propelled Democrats in 2008?

Right now, Democrats suffer from an intensity deficit that stands as perhaps their single biggest barrier to continued control of Congress after November. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll measured that intensity gap at an eye-popping 21 points: 67% of Republicans said they were very interested in this fall’s elections, compared with 46% of Democrats.

Smart Republicans and Democrats alike will remind you that it’s still early, and the atmosphere volatile—which is why it’s fascinating to listen to Mr. Buikema and 11 fellow Obama voters from California as they talk about the president and his party.